
OITFiciAL DON-iVXION. 



Proceedings of the SUFFOLK BAR 
and SUPERIOR COURT in memory 
^/ALBERT MASON, Chief Justice 
of the Superior Court, June i6, 1905 



BOSTON 
Geo. H. Ellis Co., Printers, 272 Congress Street 

1905 



\ 



PRIVATELY PRINTED 
FOR THE 

Bar Association of the City of Boston 



54 OCT 1905 
D. ot D. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUFFOLK 

BAR AND SUPERIOR COURT. 

JUNE i6, I 905. 

The meeting of the members of the Suffolk Bar, 
called to take action upon the report of a committee 
appointed to prepare and present resolutions upon 
the death of the late Albert Mason, chief justice 
of the Superior Court, was held in the Superior 
Court Room, second session, on Friday, June 16, 
1905, at 2 P.M. 

The meeting was called to order by Albert E. 
Pillsbury, and on his motion Charles Pelham 
Greenough was chosen chairman of the meeting, 
and Arthur Lord secretary. Upon taking the chair 
Mr. Greenough stated the purpose for which the 
meeting was called, and that it was ready to receive 
the resolutions of the committee. 

Mr. Pillsbury then stated that the committee had 
performed the duty with which it was charged, and 
read the following memorial: — 

THE MEMORIAL. 

The members of this bar desire to place on record 
their appreciation of the upright life, the sterling 
character, and the honorable public service of Albert 

3 



ALBERT MASON 



Mason, late chief justice of the Superior Court, 
whose death brings not only a personal sorrow, but, 
to the Commonwealth he loved and served so well, 
a public loss. 

Born in Middleboro, in the County of Plymouth, 
Nov. 7, 1836, and admitted to the bar of that county 
Feb. 15, i860, his practice of the law began in the 
town of Plymouth. In July, 1862, he enlisted in 
the army for the term of three years, and served with 
distinction, holding commissions as lieutenant and 
captain and acting as regimental and brigade quar- 
termaster. 

In 1874 he was appointed by Governor Washburn 
a member of the Board of Harbor Commissioners, 
and in 1879 Governor Talbot made him the chair- 
man of the Harbor and Land Commissioners. 
This place he held until his appointment to the bench, 
discharging his duties with the ability and faithful- 
ness which characterized all his work. 

In 1882 Governor Long appointed him an asso- 
ciate justice of the Superior Court. With his ac- 
ceptance of this office began his most valuable ser- 
vice, — a work for which he possessed unusual quali- 
fications of mind and character. 

In 1890, upon the resignation of Chief Justice 
Brigham, he was appointed the chief justice of the 
Superior Court, and continued to discharge its hon- 
orable and laborious duties until his death on Jan. 
2, 1905. 

4 



ALBERT MASON 



The position of justice of the Supreme Court he 
was compelled to decline on account of his health, 
which was so infirm as to render it inexpedient, if 
not impossible, for him to assume new duties. 

Following the best New England custom and tra- 
dition, in addition to his judicial work, which may 
be said to have been his life's work, he gave freely of 
his time in the performance of other civic duty. He 
filled the office of chairman of the Selectmen in 
Plymouth, and that of chairman of the School Com- 
mittee in Brookline for many years. He served on 
many special committees in municipal aff"airs, and 
his clear vision and sound judgment aided much in 
the solution of practical problems. He had great 
confidence in the fairness and good sense of the 
people generally, and believed implicitly in those 
fundamental principles which underlie and control 
our institutions and which have their roots deep in 
heredity, training, and social life. But he was not 
a blind optimist, and men and women to him were 
very human, with serious imperfections, and yet 
with unlimited capacity for growth and progress 
toward that goal for which, with constant struggles 
and not without tears, all humanity is striving. 
He believed in man and in the future of the race, 
because he believed in the wisdom and the omnipo- 
tence of God. His nature was profoundly moral 
and religious. Unswervingly, but without ostenta- 
tion, he held the truths of divine revelation. For 

S 



ALBERT MASON 



him the spiritual vision pierced bevond the con- 
fines of sense, and revealed those things vrhich, un- 
perceived and unperceivable bv the eve, were of the 
spirit and the beaurv of eternal life. Alike in pri- 
vate and pubhc life, his standard of thought and 
conduct was the appropriate standard of a nature 
both strong and beautiful. 

He had a tall and commanding figure, dignified 
in carriage, impressive in repose. His face was 
strong and firm, but kindlv; his manner courteous, 
but direct and decided. 

-As a iudge, he had large executive and adminis- 
trative abiHtv, a strong; grasp of legal principles, 
the power of clear and forceful statement, a knowl- 
edge of men and things bom of wide experience and 
much reflection, an instinctive desire for and sense 
of justice, and, crowning all, a saving common 
sense, without which no successful attempt to ad- 
minister iustice is possible. 

His high ideals, his firmness of conviction, and his 
unquestioning faith were among his most striking 
characteristics, and gave him a distinct place in the 
minds and hearts of those who knew him. 

Albert E. Pillsbury. 

J-^MES R. Du>"B.\R. 

.Arthur Lord. 
W.\LTER L B.\dger. 
Franklin T. H.\^emoxd. 



ALBERT MASON 



REMARKS OF 

ALBERT E. P I L L S B U R Y. 

I had the profoundest respect and affection for 
Chief justice Mason, and vet it is with some hesi- 
tation that I undertake to sav anything here. His 
character was sincerity itself. If I felt, as some 
good souls seem to feel, that these memorial occa- 
sions are formal and perfunctor\% permitting noth- 
ing but pious platitudes which can be spoken with- 
out feeling and without conviction, I should pay 
most respect to his memorv by remaining silent. 
It is difficult for me to appreciate the cast of mind 
which takes seriously the absurd maxim "De mortuis 
nil nisi bonum," — a sentiment which affronts the dead 
by attributing to them a character which will not 
bear exhibition, and affronts the living bv assuming 
that, if their ears are tickled bv words of compliment, 
there is nothing remaining to be satisfied bv words 
of truth. 

As I do not accept this adage, as there is no room 
here for application of it, I indulge my own feelings, 
in taking final leave of Chief Justice Mason, bv a 
brief expression of my sense of personal loss and 
my appreciation of his elevated character as a 
man. 

It is not necessarv to claim for him that he was a 
great man or a great judge; and vet what goes to 

7 



ALBERT MASON 



the making of a great judge ? He was full of in- 
telligence, patience, diligence, courtesy, moderation, 
sincerity. He held always just, sensible, and temper- 
ate views of human conduct and motives. Are there 
any higher judicial qualities than these, or any more 
essential to the judicial office ? Are we not some- 
times inclined to make too much of profound learn- 
ing or pre-eminent intellectual power .? to pay too 
much attention to what we call qualifications and 
too little to disqualifications ^ Of these, I do not 
think that Chief Justice Mason had any. There 
was absolutely nothing unjudicial in him or about 
him. Without any pretensions to genius, with noth- 
ing dramatic or spectacular in his character or 
career, his lamp burned with a pure and steady 
flame, always lighting before him the path of duty 
and honor. He lived constantly under a solemn 
sense of the high responsibility of his office, and sur- 
rendered himself to its demands with utter and 
complete self-abnegation, in the single desire to 
faithfully perform the duty in hand. And this 
acute sense of duty was never dulled in the routine 
labors of more than twenty-two years. There is no 
doubt, I think, that he brought to the trial of his 
last case the same quick conscience and anxious en- 
deavor to be right that he brought to his first. 

He had, in my view, a higher claim to distinction 
than most of those who are styled great in one 
phase of his character which always impressed me 

8 



ALBERT MASON 



most, and seemed to set him apart as unique among 
all the men I have known. A man of affairs all his 
life, the rare boon seemed bestowed on him to go 
through life unspotted from the world. If we had 
to describe him in a single word, perhaps we should 
call him a high-minded man. But this is not 
enough to describe him. He was a spiritual-minded 
man. He lived and thought on a higher level than 
is permitted to most of human kind. So modest 
and unpretentious that he seemed to wear his public 
honors as a badge of service more than of distinc- 
tion, everything in his demeanor excluding any 
sense of superiority to others about him, he yet 
seemed to dwell in an atmosphere of his own, above 
the mists and vapors of this world. The ideals of 
other men were his realities, attainable and attained 
in his daily walk and conversation. He had the 
spirituality, and perhaps some of the mysticism, of 
the church of his affection, — a church insignificant 
in numbers, perhaps, because its faith is adapted to 
attract only the spiritual-minded. So permeated 
was he with this impalpable essence that his whole 
life and conduct seemed to be the outward and vis- 
ible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. It illu- 
mined him. It radiated from him. I never en- 
tered his presence without feeling this influence: 
I shall never think of him without recalling it. He 
was one of the rare souls sent here to leaven sordid 
humanity by the purifying and uplifting influence 

9 



ALBERT MASON 



of a tranquil and blameless life in a turbulent and 
sinful world, making it better in life by his example, 
and in death leaving it richer by the heritage of his 
memory. 

Mr. Chairman, I move the adoption of this memo- 
rial, and that the attorney-general be required to 
present it to the Superior Court. 



REMARKS OF 
JAMES R. DUNBAR. 

The Superior Court has been fortunate in its 
chief justices. Four men have occupied the position 
during the whole period since the organization of 
the court in 1859. The memory of few of us can 
recall them all; but, whether founded on personal 
knowledge or the traditions of the bar, there is no 
difference of opinion as to the fitness of each and 
all of them in character, ability, or learning. 

Among these men, chosen for fitness and equipped 
for the performance of most delicate and respon- 
sible duties, Albert Mason held no subordinate 
place. In him the best traditions of the office found 
expression; and, while he performed its duties, re- 
spect for its dignity was not lessened nor its efficiency 
decreased. It is significant of the quality of the 
man that, so far as I can ascertain, no member of 



10 



ALBERT MASON 



the court ever felt that any pressure upon or exercise 
of authority over him had been made by the chief 
justice, and no member of the court knew what 
powers were possessed by the chief justice different 
from or in excess of those possessed by any one of 
the associate justices. The office brought to him 
no sHght burden of responsibiHties and duties. 
These duties were done so quietly, tactfully, and 
efficiently that even his associates scarcely knew 
when they were performed. 

Judge Mason was a simple man, as are all men 
who have the traits of greatness,— direct in thought 
and speech, insistent upon the truth, and devoted 
to the highest ideals. The qualities which all rec- 
ognized in him in his middle and later life were the 
expression of his nature formed by experience, re- 
flection, struggle, and sacrifice. He had courage as 
great as any man I ever knew, and in speaking of 
courage I do not refer simply to that physical brav- 
ery which is possessed in some degree by all races 
and nearly all men, though he did not lack that, but 
to the courage referred to by Horace in those lines 
beginning "Justum ac tenacem propositi virum." 

He was one of those rare men who never con- 
sciously neglect a duty, and for him duty did not 
exist alone in crises, when the mind is roused and 
set on fire by excitement and is ready to dare all in 
a supreme effort at a time when the souls of men 
"on war's red techstone ring true metal"; but at all 



II 



ALBERT MASON 



times, even when the way was steep and stony, when 
the burden was heavy, when illness and weakness 
overwhelmed, his ear was so responsive that no 
whisper of duty was unheard or unheeded. 

His mind was a well-balanced mind, solid rather 
than brilliant. It moved always on moral lines, 
and was guided and controlled by deep religious 
feeling. His judgment was sound, and his mistakes 
of judgment rare. 

His knowledge of men and things, his varied ex- 
perience, his good judgment, his even temper, his 
moral strength, as well as his love of justice, his 
learning, his industry and courage, gave him more 
than the ordinary qualifications for high judicial 
station. 

Whether sitting with or without a jury charged 
with the duty of seeing that well-meaning or preju- 
diced ignorance or incapacity committed no injus- 
tice, or striving to extract the truth from conflicting 
statements, or dealing with an abstract question of 
law, he was a strong man, a very strong man. I have 
seen many men who would generally be considered 
more brilliant, not a few more learned, many as 
ardent lovers of truth and justice; but I have never 
seen any man who seemed to me better fitted for 
the duties of his office, or so completely possessed 
of those qualities which command the admiration 
which is given to the highest in character and the 
love which is founded in respect. All who knew 

12 



ALBERT MASON 



him knew with what tenacity he held his mature 
opinions: all who saw him recognized the sweetness 
of his temper and character. The whole profession 
recognized the virility of his mind, his firm knowl- 
edge and grasp of legal principles, and the accuracy 
of his reasoning processes. 

As a young man he was compelled to work with 
his hands for a livelihood. He never had the ad- 
vantage of a college or university training; but he 
used his spare time to such advantage that he be- 
came well versed in many branches of knowledge, 
especially in the best literature, and he acquired a 
clear and cogent literary style. 

In his early manhood the call of the country came 
to him; and, although recently married, he enlisted 
for the term of three years. His qualities early won 
recognition, and procured for him promotion to the 
offices of lieutenant and captain, and placed in his 
charge the quartermaster department of the regi- 
ment, and then of the brigade to which his regiment 
was attached. 

A single incident in his army career will serve to 
illustrate his courage and his desire to do more than 
his full duty. 

On the evening of the day prior to the assault on 
Port Hudson, in which his regiment took part, al- 
though he was under no obligation to enter the 
battle because of his duties as quartermaster, he 
tendered his services to the colonel, and offered to 

13 



ALBERT MASON 



participate in the assault the following day. He 
was given command of his company, and led it in 
that assault. Those of us who are old enough to 
recall the stories of the war at first hand, will re- 
member that the fire from the Confederate forces 
was so hot that our troops were obliged to take 
shelter in the fallen timber, and remain there during 
the day until darkness enabled them to withdraw 
without serious loss. Lying in the midst of his 
men, he remembered that he had ordered the brigade 
train to remain at a certain point until it received 
orders from him. He knew that in an hour or two 
his brigade would withdraw from the position in 
which it lay, and would be sadly in need of food. 
It seemed to him that it was his duty to go back 
and give orders which would enable the soldiers to 
be served with rations upon their withdrawal from 
that position. Every movement brought a shower 
of rifle balls; but the young captain and quarter- 
master, by sudden sallies, by creeping, by climbing 
over fallen timber, followed at all times by the fire 
of the enemy, succeeded in withdrawing without 
injury, brought up his supply train, and had rations 
ready for the troops when they came out from the 
line of battle. 

He held the office of judge for twenty-three years, 
for fifteen of which he was the chief justice. Per- 
haps my partiality and friendship affect my judg- 
ment, but I do not think he had a superior, 

14 



ALBERT MASON 



The work of a judge was to him the highest and 
greatest service which a man could render to the 
world, and at all times he worked reverently and 
gladly. For many years he was seriously afflicted 
with an incurable malady. There were long periods 
of time when it seemed to his friends as if it would 
be impossible for him to continue to work or even 
to breathe; but his indomitable courage and strong 
will not only prolonged his life, but enabled him to 
perform his duties under conditions of health most 
discouraging, and such as few men could have en- 
dured and continue to do their work. 

The long strain of an exhausting disease at last 
wore upon him to such an extent that he was com- 
pelled to suspend work and to take what he and his 
friends thought would be a short rest. He himself 
was hopeful and determined, as on many other occa- 
sions, when he had been obliged to desist for a time 
from work; but his strength had been too much 
reduced, and on the second day of January he passed 
from a blameless life, honored, respected, and loved, 
to the life for which he had been living all his mature 
years, which he had seen with the eye of faith, and 
of which he was no more doubtful than of this mor- 
tal life. Whether he rests from his labors, as is 
the dream of many, or, as he believed, has entered 
upon a life of activity surpassing all that this life 
has known or can know, his works do follow him, 
and we who are left behind follow after with a rev- 

15 



ALBERT MASON 



erent love and admiration which no lapse of time 
shall change. 



REMARKS OF 
M. J. S UGH RUE. 

I regret that the district attorney, Mr. Oliver 
Stevens, is prevented by illness from being present, 
more fittingly to pay this tribute of affection and 
respect to his friend Chief Justice Mason. 

Judge Mason seemed to me to fulfil the ideal 
which a Massachusetts judge should realize. Dig- 
nified, patient, of even temper, courteous, wise, his 
serene temper affected every one who came before 
him. He was the typical New England magistrate. 

Perhaps in no other place did the character of 
the chief justice present such an attractive side as 
on the bench of the criminal court. There where 
the Miserere is the chant most constantly sounding, 
he appeared at his best; there where human nature 
is seen at its lowest as well as at its highest, — at its 
lowest when crime sinks men in utter abasement, 
at its highest when affection and charity come into 
court to bring sympathy and assistance to those in 
sorest need, — in that place the fine qualities of 
Judge Mason's heart and mind were given broadest 
scope. 

i6 



ALBERT MASON 



The tenderness of his nature gave to sorrow what- 
ever of comfort was possible. Persistent and brazen 
wickedness found in him a stern monitor, but no 
one ever sought more eagerly to find reason for the 
exercise of a wise clemency. No judge ever sat on 
the bench who was more charitable to young of- 
fenders, and none was ever more willing to give bet- 
ter opportunity to the victims of unfortunate circum- 
stance or human frailty. 

The stronger virtues of courage, unselfishness, 
fortitude, and self-control were in him constantly 
exemplified. In him a powerful and searching in- 
telligence was united with a kindly and charitable 
spirit. He was a man constantly regardful of the 
duties, great and small, he owed to those about him: 
to such he paid in full every measure of obligation. 

His whole life was such as to grace and give dig- 
nity to human nature. 



REMARKS OF 
ROBERT M. MORSE. 

The late chief justice was large of stature, large 
of intellect, and large of heart. A stranger in our 
courts, observing his modest bearing, reserved man- 
ner, and reticence of speech, would hardly appreciate 
at once the great reach of his attainments, his legal 

17 



ALBERT MASON 



learning, his strong common sense, and his fund of 
dry humor. He maintained with dignity the high 
office which he held; and in all causes which came 
before him, whether in jury trials or in hearings 
without a jury, at law or in equity, he had the valu- 
able faculty of quickly analyzing complicated facts, 
and of seizing hold of and determining wisely the 
real issues. 

For many years we have known that he was strug- 
gling heroically with serious physical infirmities, 
and that it required great effort for him to attend to 
the duties of the court; but no one ever heard him 
complain, and nothing was allowed to mar his calm, 
gracious, and kindly demeanor, or to interfere with 
the full performance of his important work. His 
place is secure in the long line of our departed 
worthies, and his name and virtues will always be 
a precious possession. 

I am glad to remember here that I was one of a 
committee of the bar which secured his portrait for 
the Law Library, and that we have placed this en- 
during memorial where the coming generations of 
our profession may see the face and figure of a judge 
whom we delighted to honor. 



i8 



ALBERT MASON 



REMARKS OF 
GEORGE L. MAYBERRY. 

Mr. Chairman^ — The life and character of our 
late chief justice have been so well and beautifully 
portrayed by those who have preceded me that I 
can add but little to what they have said. I can 
only add my personal tribute to the universal re- 
spect and affection with which he was regarded by 
the members of the bar. 

As a trial judge he came very near to fulfilling the 
lawyer's ideal. He had a keen and logical legal 
mind, enriched by profound learning. One felt 
sure that his arguments upon the law of the case 
would receive intelligent and careful consideration 
and be given all the weight to which they were en- 
titled. Whether right or wrong, you were sure to 
receive a patient hearing. The chief justice did 
you the honor to assume that you might have some 
point to suggest that was worth hearing. 

He had confidence in the efficacy of our judicial 
system. The judge, the jury, and the counsel, each 
had their duty to perform, and were given the fullest 
opportunity to do it. He was content to be the judge, 
and never sought to try the case for one counsel or 
the other, nor to get into the jury box. 

The whole atmosphere of the court in which he 

19 



ALBERT MASON 



presided was such as to lift the practice of the law 
up to the highest plane. Juries felt that they were 
indeed most important parts of a great judicial sys- 
tem, and counsel were incited to their best efforts by 
a sense of keen appreciation and fair treatment. 
Dignity and kindliness, blended in one beautiful 
and harmonious personality, inspired confidence at 
the same time that they brought out the best that 
was in you. 

There was not an atom of the artificial either in 
the dignity of the court or in the deference of the 
bar. The dignity was as natural as the quiet grand- 
eur of mountain scenery. It was the product of 
religious sincerity, high character, and conscious 
strength. The deference was not the result of fear, 
but of pure respect. You admired his ability and 
strength, respected his lofty purpose, and loved his 
genial personality. You could not be otherwise 
than deferential if you would. 

With all of his dignity and kindliness and sense of 
justice, he was not wholly free from the spirit of 
the combat. He liked to see cases well fought. 
The keen eyes would flash with appreciation of the 
sharp thrust and parry. He liked to leave the ad- 
vocate free to exercise his utmost skill, and was 
reluctant to strip him of the fruits of a well-fought 
battle. 

We were all proud of our chief justice because 
he always maintained the high standards for which 

20 



ALBERT MASON 



the bench and bar of this Commonwealth are justly 
celebrated. 

But we love to think of him not merely as a judge, 
but as a man. My early acquaintance with him 
dates back to my school-days when I had the pleasure 
of meeting him in his home. I remember well how 
he impressed me. I remember his intensely inter- 
esting talks on legal questions, his high ideals of 
professional conduct, and, above . all, his deeply 
religious nature. One could not help seeing that 
he embodied all that is noble in the old New England 
character, — its strength and its sincerity. 

You would expect that such a man would fight 
life's battle to the end. You are not surprised that 
neither sickness nor suffering nor advancing years 
broke his strong spirit or weakened the keen in- 
tellect. Stronger and kindlier, if anything, he grew 
to the very last. And, now that we are called upon 
to mourn his loss, we may say in all sincerity that 
the bench or bar of Massachusetts have rarely 
known one who has brought more honor to them, 
or whose life has been more of an inspiration to the 
young lawyer or a greater source of pride and satis- 
faction to the old. 



21 



ALBERT MASON 



REMARKS OF 
BOYD B. JONES. 

It would be unnatural on this occasion not to 
refer, although at the expense of repetition, to the 
high office which Judge Mason held, and to the 
manner in which he filled that office. 

The Superior Court is the great trial court of this 
Commonwealth: it is a trial court without a su- 
perior, and I believe without an equal, in this coun- 
try. Its common law and equity jurisdiction em- 
brace almost every conceivable controversy that can 
arise regarding person or property. The accused 
come before it for trial, the guilty come before it 
for probation or punishment. It has the power, for 
cause, to terminate marital relations: it has juris- 
diction in some cases to impose the penalty of death. 
Its justices, sitting in judgment upon their fellow- 
men, exercise on earth some of the highest attributes 
of the Almighty. 

Judge Mason was the chief justice of that court, 
and it was fitting that Judge Mason should be the 
chief justice of such a court. He so discharged the 
duties of that high office that he won the approval, 
the respect, and the admiration of the bench, of the 
bar, and of the public. He revered the high office 
which he held, and he carried himself with a fitting 

22 



ALBERT MASON 



dignity which impressed everybody and repelled 
no one. He appreciated the responsibilities of that 
office, and he spared not his time, his comfort, his 
strength, or his health, in his efforts to discharge 
that duty. 

He had a judicial temperament that seemingly 
was not affected by bias or prejudice, and that in 
reality was indifferent to everything but the merits 
of the cause as he saw it. He had a nature that was 
strong and earnest, and that quietly, but very firmly 
and very completely, controlled the proceedings of 
his court. In that court there were no bickerings. 
These qualities, combined with a good knowledge 
of the law and the power of making a practical oper- 
ation of it, constituted in him what I believe, and 
what I have generally heard him regarded to be, a 
model chief justice. His exterior was calm and un- 
emotional, but there was beneath an affectionate dis- 
position, a warm heart. Those who knew him best 
will say that he was loving and lovable, that he de- 
lighted his friends and that he delighted in his 
friends. 

Mr. Chairman, it is difficult to speak on an 
occasion like this, — it is with difficulty that the 
tongue can state what the mind can conceive. The 
tongue is powerless to express what the heart can 
feel. 

When I think of the chief justice, I am reminded 
in the words of another of 

23 



ALBERT MASON 



'The Judge of the great Assize, 
. . . good and wise. 
His face with lines of firmness wrought, . . 
Yet touched and softened, nevertheless, 
With the grace of Christian gentleness, . . 
True and tender and brave and just. 
That man might honor and woman trust." 



REMARKS OF 
FRANK N. NAY. 

Mr. Chairmariy — The younger members of the 
bar, those who were admitted since the late chief 
justice went upon the bench, I think would all unite 
in bearing testimony to his universal kindness. The 
young man who went before him with a motion and 
had neglected to observe some rule of the court or 
had paid no attention to some statute that he ought 
to have known bore on the point, was never met with 
sharp retort or sarcastic observation. He was never 
sent out of the court with his face flaming and a 
feeling that he had made a fool of himself. He was 
met with some kindly suggestion, or the case was 
put over for a week for him to attend to the loose 
ends which he had neglected; and he left the court 
with the feeling that he had been reasonably and 
kindly treated. 

24 



ALBERT MASON 



I think that the characteristic of the chief justice 
which impressed itself most upon me was his open- 
mindedness. He heard the whole of a case before 
he decided it. This was especially to be observed 
when he was sitting in cases without a jury or in 
the Equity Merit Session. He did not decide the 
case for the plaintiff until he had heard the last scrap 
of evidence for the defendant and all the defendant's 
attorney had to say, and he did not decide the case 
for the defendant until he had heard all that the 
plaintiff had to offer or his counsel to say. His 
mind was open until the end of the case. The com- 
plaint, that he knew more about the case in ten 
minutes after the case was opened than counsel who 
had been in it for perhaps a year, never applied to 
him in any way, and he never had to withdraw at 
any later stage of the case remarks made by him 
owing to his impressions at the beginning. And he 
was just as thorough in deciding a small case as he 
was in deciding a large one. In my own case I 
once filed a creditor's bill to reach and apply some 
interest which could not be reached otherwise. I 
went before the chief justice and asked him to give 
me an injunction. He read the bill, and said he 
could not grant either an injunction or an order of 
notice. I told him that, unless one or the other was 
granted, there would be no use in proceeding farther 
in the matter, as the property would be conveyed 
away and nothing further could be done. He said 

25 



ALBERT MASON 



he regretted it, but that, of course, could not change 
his views of the law. I told him I should abandon 
the case, as the amount was too small to proceed 
with it. The next morning I received a message 
from him, and I went to see him. He had been 
sitting in the Motion Session (it was near the end of 
his life); and there, with the work of the Motion 
Session upon him, he had taken the papers, and had 
done what counsel ought to have done. He had 
carefully examined the authorities, and had come to 
the conclusion that he might have granted the in- 
junction; and then, sending for me, he granted it. 
He had done the work I should have done, and all 
in a case involving less than one hundred dollars. 



REMARKS OF 
CHARLES W. BARTLETT. 

I came to speak of the chief justice, not particu- 
larly as a matter of duty, nor as a matter of admira- 
tion of the man, but I came to speak of him as a 
friend. This probably is the last time that we shall 
ever meet in a formal way to speak of the qualities 
that so strongly characterized his character. 

I think that the chief justice was known by a 
great many men. He had many acquaintances, and 
he had many friends; but I never have believed 

26 



ALBERT MASON 



that any man ever knew Albert Mason who was 
not classed within an inner circle of intimate friend- 
ship. He was a shy, a modest man, and he extended 
his confidences carefully and slowly; but, when once 
he had given to you that friendship which all value 
so highly, and that confidence which all felt so proud 
of, when he was with us, it was irrevocable, and you 
then looked down into the great heart of Albert 
Mason, and knew what his true worth was. 

I had known him by reputation in the war from 
his comrades and soldier friends in the Thirty-eighth 
Massachusetts Regiment. I knew of him after- 
ward as a practising member of the bar. I, of course, 
have known him for the years he has been upon this 
bench; and month by month and year by year my 
friendship for him has steadily increased, and he 
grew upon me as a character to be admired and 
always to be remembered. 

His record was a record of fine actions in what- 
ever position he was called upon to fill. In his ad- 
ministration of justice in this court, his treatment of 
litigants, witnesses, counsel, nothing could be left 
to be desired, in the spirit of that fairness with which 
every one came to him for justice. He had perhaps 
almost an abnormal appreciation of the duties 
which he was to perform, and of his work. I don't 
know that I ever fully appreciated the exact signifi- 
cance of the work, or the word "work," until I heard 
Albert Mason, when discussing the position of affairs 

27 



ALBERT MASON 



in his court, pronounce the word "work" so im- 
pressive and so full of meaning; and he devoted 
himself to the work of this court almost like a wor- 
ship of that work and the duties that went with it. 

There was one thing in his treatment of counsel: 
he was always absolutely impartial. No man could 
leave the court, old or young, without having felt 
that he had had the opportunity to say all and pre- 
sent all that could in any way aid the case of his 
client. I look back sometimes: I think of the cases 
that have been tried, and of incidents connected with 
the trials. I have see him, myself, struggling up 
those stairs there, suffering agony, and alone. He 
never leaned upon anybody, but he would come up 
there, and I have seen him cling to the baluster rail 
and literally use his strength to pull him up to his 
place of work and duty; and I have kept back out 
of his sight, that he might not know that I was a 
spectator of the desperate struggles that he was 
making to get here to his place of duty. And he 
would be here on time. And, when he took his 
place there on that bench, his indomitable will could 
not remove from his face all traces of what he had 
gone through; but a microscopical observer could 
not detect it from his demeanor. When arguments 
were presented, they were listened to: when sugges- 
tions were made, they were heeded, — no undue haste, 
no criticism as to preparation or the importance of 
litigation. He viewed this court as the people's 

28 



ALBERT MASON 



court, where they came to have their wrongs righted 
and their disputes settled; and I have wondered 
sometimes how it was possible for any man — know- 
ing his physical condition and what he had gone 
through with — to be invariably so even-tempered, 
just, and considerate. All of us knew that when 
the time came to render his decision. I know there 
is one word in the English language that I have a 
new appreciation of when he pronounced it. If the 
question was a question of admission or exclusion 
of evidence, I always knew what he meant when he 
said simply "Excluded," and probably all of us 
knew that that meant in one word just what he said, 
and that the incident was closed. 

Now something has been said as to what his 
position would be, as to whether he was a genius. 
I never yet understood, and I never have heard any 
of my friends at the bar just explain to me, what a 
genius is in our profession. I know this, that, so 
far as his fidelity to duty was concerned, where has 
it been excelled ? If genius means something be- 
yond excellence — superexcellence — you could find it 
in Albert Mason's career, in his handling of ques- 
tions, his absolute fairness, his absolute honesty and 
integrity, both in thought and action. 

I remember one incident when I saw the chief 
justice distressed. That was when it had come to 
his ears that somebody had complained that they 
had not been treated fairly in the division of the 

29 



ALBERT MASON 



work of this court; and he himself, feeble as he was, 
was undertaking to add to his labors the care of the 
docket, fearing and saying to me, "True or not, it 
must not be said that there is any unfairness in the 
opportunities of litigants and counsel to present 
their matters to this court." Superexcellence could 
go no farther in guarding the rights of all. Wherever 
you take him and measure him, it seems to me you 
will find superexcellence, to say the least; and I 
think we will all agree I had peculiar opportunities 
to know him and to meet him in reference to the 
performance of the work of his court, where he would 
throw off a little of the modesty and shyness, so that 
I could see the real, true man, look into his heart, 
know his feelings, having him state them to me 
bravely and frankly and unreservedly; and, whatever 
estimate you may make of Albert Mason, the older 
members of this bar will never see his like again. 



REMARKS OF 
CHARLES COWLEY. 

Mr. Chairman, — I do not rise to make a speech; 
but, as I have listened to the very appropriate re- 
marks that have been made this afternoon, one in- 
cident in the life of the chief justice occurred to 
me which it seemed proper for me to relate here. 

30 



ALBERT MASON 



On one occasion I remember, in a private con- 
versation had with him and some other gentlemen, 
he spoke rather regretfully of the fact that he never 
had had a collegiate education, and I veas tempted 
to relate to him an incident v^hich occurred in Boston 
many years ago. When William Wirt came here 
to try a case with Daniel Webster for his antagonist, 
he was invited by Josiah Quincy to breakfast, and 
at the breakfast table Mr. Quincy inquired, "Mr. 
Wirt, at what college did you graduate.?" Mr. 
Wirt replied, "I never graduated at any college." 
Mr. Quincy rejoined, "Then you are the strongest 
argument I have ever heard against the utility of a 
college education." And said I to the late chief 
justice, "I think that might well be applied to your 
honor," and he took it very pleasantly. 

I will not detain the members of the bar with any 
speech. I thought this anecdote might well come in. 
I have the profoundest and tenderest recollection of 
the late chief justice. I remember particularly the 
charge he gave to the jury in a capital trial in North- 
ampton some seven or eight years ago. I don't even 
remember the name of the culprit who was then on 
trial; but I read the whole charge carefully through 
and through, and it seemed to me to be marvellous 
in its clearness and lucidity, its strict impartiality, not 
tending to lead the jury one way or the other, except 
by the helpfulness of its clear and lucid explanation 
of the principles and of the evidence involved. 

31 



ALBERT MASON 



I made up my mind that he was the man for me 
to try a case before, which had been bothering me 
for five or six years, and which had been muddled 
up more and more by half a dozen judges and two 
Masters in Chancery, all of whose reports were set 
aside finally. And I watched for an opportunity 
when he was to sit in the Merit Session, and applied 
to him to set it down for trial; and he said he had 
heard of that case, and he did set it down for trial, 
though sufi^ering much from asthma at the time; and 
in four half days he sifted that whole case, and 
sent down his memorandum for a final decree. 
A motion came in to set it aside. He very soon 
stopped the counsel who made it, saying, "I will 
hear you clear through, if you wish; but I want to 
say that I have submitted my memorandum of de- 
cree to all the members of the court who have had 
anything to do with the case, and they all agree that 
that is the only decree which can be sustained." 
That ended for me that long and annoying litigation. 



REMARKS OF 
ASA P. FRENCH. 

I have just come up from the county where Albert 
Mason was born, from the town where he began to 
practise law, and where all that is earthly of him 

32 



ALBERT MASON 



will rest forever. There he is loved and honored by 
all, by high and lov^, and this occasion would be in- 
complete without a single word of tribute from 
Plymouth County to the memory of their Chief 
Justice. 

The Memorial was then adopted, and the meeting 
adjourned. Immediately after, the court was an- 
nounced, and nearly all the judges of the Superior 
Court were present, with the chief justice pre- 
siding. 

The attorney-general then addressed the court as 
follows : — 

The Suffolk Bar, in evidence of the veneration 
in which, in common with the bar of the Common- 
wealth, it held the late chief justice, has met and 
adopted resolutions expressing in happy and ap- 
propriate phrase the sentiments of affection and 
gratitude which his long life and distinguished ser- 
vice have inspired. In obedience to a custom ap- 
proved by long usage, its memorial is presented to 
the court by the attorney-general. 

I bring to this official service the ready and earnest 
tribute of my own grateful appreciation of the con- 
stant instruction and inspiration of his learning, of 
his serene and beneficent wisdom, and of the ex- 
ample of his pure, useful, kindly, and honorable 
life. 

33 



ALBERT MASON 



The attorney-general then read the Memorial as 
adopted by the meeting of the bar. 



REMARKS OF 
ATTORNEY-GENERAL PARKER. 

May it please your Honors: Not alone through his 
contributions to the literature and the recorded adju- 
dications of the court is the true and lasting influence 
of the great jurist to be measured, nor is it to be 
limited by the written words of his just decrees. 
Though his physical presence must pass from recol- 
lection when our own memories of him shall no 
longer find speech because our own lips shall have 
become mute, it is still happily true that the story 
of a long, earnest, devoted, and arduous life shall 
reveal to one who shall read it in days yet to come 
the character, the soul, if not the very voice and mor- 
tal being of him whom we would have others know 
as we have known him. 

As we have listened to-day to words of real affec- 
tion, to the dignified periods of those who have made 
deliberate, discriminating, just analysis of his judi- 
cial qualities, and to the vivid recitals of his efficient 
activity in every field of high and worthy human 
effort, it has been almost as if he again sat upon this 
bench, patiently hearing, wisely deciding the multi- 

34 



ALBERT MASON 



tudinous causes submitted to his judgment. Again 
he has walked among us, and in thought we have 
again had speech with him, and the very accents of 
his deep, inspiring voice have quickened our ears 
to a new sense. His grave though kindly and cheer- 
ful presence has lighted again this place of our as- 
sembling, and for the moment we have, through his 
demeanor and example, taken a new courage to 
bear and carry forward our own burdens and cares 
with something of the brave, uncomplaining forti- 
tude with which he so long bore his own, and of 
which none of us had knowledge through a moment's 
faltering in his step or from even the passing shadow 
of repining on his brow. 

Through the words that have been spoken, and 
through those which are to be preserved in the 
records of the court, Albert Mason, soldier, citizen, 
lawyer, and judge, chief justice of this tribunal of 
widest and most varied jurisdiction, shall be made 
to live again before others who had not seen him, 
and again to admonish, uplift, and sustain them as 
he has those of his own day. 

We have met and we have spoken together, not 
merely that we might, through reflection upon our 
association with him, find selfish consolation for the 
loss we have sustained in his death, or, through the 
quick memory of the past, find momentary forget- 
fulness of a present sorrow. Duty and love alike 
command us to see to it that the friend and adviser 

35 



ALBERT MASON 



whom we so greatly honor shall not by sad words 
of ours be obscured by the shadows of our grief 
from the sight of those to whom we would transmit 
his living and immortal memory and influence. 

Simple, sincere, faithful, and strong in every hour 
of his living, his fitting eulogy must be phrased with 
like candor and simplicity. Though the imagina- 
tion may be fired by the contemplation of a figure 
not without manifest heroic qualities, yet the austere 
though serene poise of his own mind compels us 
to so speak that the dignified modesty of his character 
shall not be offended by any accent of adulation. 

A simple, pure nature is most difficult of analysis, 
for there is no precipitate of the dross of any color 
of contamination, nor in the flame of his life-work 
does the spectrum reveal the fire of any petty, selfish, 
or unworthy ambition or effort. 

To say that Judge Mason had bravely and ably 
met every duty and responsibility that his citizen- 
ship, his professional and official obligations, had 
imposed upon him, is but to say that his was the 
typical character born of and developed by the re- 
quirements of those conditions that characterize our 
free, self-respecting, self-sustaining Commonwealth, 
and make it worth living for, worth dying for, if 
need be. 

To say that as patriot he offered his life for his 
country is to say that, surviving, he had nobly earned 
the right to share in the national security and pros- 

36 



ALBERT MASON 



perity with thousands of other brave men who had 
done battle for the right with him. 

His early professional life brought him the recog- 
nition that fidelity, ability, tireless energy, and con- 
scientious effort always make secure; and I am told 
that from the very first those qualities, ripening later 
into an extraordinary judicial faculty, were manifest 
in him. 

He never measured success by comparison with 
the attainment or achievements of others. His 
standards were absolute, and kept immaculate in 
the sanctuary of his own conscience. No work, to 
him, was ever well done that did not respond to the 
requirements of that tribunal. I cannot conceive 
of his ever having determined upon any action 
without maturest and most patient inquiry and de- 
liberation. No taint of prejudice ever stayed his 
candid, charitable inquiry. Nothing in the deter- 
mination of the conduct of his private or of his ju- 
dicial life rested upon facts taken for granted, or 
was based upon any assumptions. He sought al- 
ways the elemental truth of any proposition before 
him, and through an intellect trained and developed 
through ceaseless exercise he was able, with almost 
infallible certainty, to discern this truth. 

While vigor of youth was with him, and in the ma- 
turity of his physical and mental strength, he sus- 
tained without conscious or apparent effort the weight 
of his laborious days, counting every hour as dedi- 

37 



ALBERT MASON 



cated to duty, and knowing no moment of relaxa- 
tion while the voice of any duty not yet done spoke 
to the sensitive ear of his conscience. 

The libraries of every court-house in the Common- 
wealth still speak of his study during the hours when 
counsel and litigants sought repose. The waiting 
cause was never delayed because the well-earned 
hour of his rest and recreation had come. Giving 
of his own strength that the weak might be made 
stronger, vigilant to see to it that no wrong or op- 
pression should be done through the mere presen- 
tation of any cause, forgetful of himself, generously, 
willingly, he took up many burdens not his own, 
but too heavy for others to bear. 

And so the time came when the debt that our phy- 
sical being must ultimately pay for its efforts rested 
heavily upon him. 

To the church and to the schools, to youth and 
to age, to the weak and to the strong alike, he lent 
the aid of his service, the counsel of his mature 
judgment and experience. His faith and his con- 
victions were not exhibited by mere passive acqui- 
escence in, or approval of, their declaration by 
others. 

What he believed to be necessary or salutary for 
the community he strove to make others believe, 
and through his belief and action to bring it to real 
accomplishment. In him there was nothing of the 
pallid quality of indifference. Evil speech or un- 

38 



ALBERT MASON 



worthy action in his presence never passed without 
his grave and effective rebuke. Unconscious of his 
own exalted virtue, assuming no censorship over 
others, he taught by the compelHng influence of 
purity of thought and of Hving. 

He dedicated his every thought and abiHty not 
alone to the high service of the law, but to the true 
welfare of the community, of which he held himself 
always a responsible part. 

Through the long years of his service as presiding 
justice, these qualities of the man were apparent 
in his judgments. Profound learning had taught 
him that the elemental structure of the law must be 
maintained in its integrity; but he knew, also, that 
absolute, immutable rigidity cannot long preserve 
any structure of human mind or hand. He so ad- 
ministered the law, through recognition of its neces- 
sary and inherent flexibility, that it might be applied 
to given conditions in such wise that its true purpose 
should be attained in the establishment of justice. 

The virtue, the integrity of his manhood spoke in 
his every decree. 

No court of law can be forever maintained through 
the mere intrinsic vigor of its declarations. Its 
maintenance must ultimately depend upon the con- 
fidence and approval of the community whose rights 
it secures. In the recorded volumes of the law he 
has set lasting and luminous monuments and guides; 
but beyond this he has made the maintenance of 

39 



ALBERT MASON 



our jurisprudence secure through his interpretation 
and administration, by which all suitors before him 
had come to know its justice. 

The conspicuous intellectual and moral charac- 
teristic of the late chief justice seems to me to have 
been his absolute, unswerving devotion to duty. 
His nature was eminently cheerful, hopeful, cordial, 
and sympathetic, inviting confidence and inspiring 
affection. Model of all the excellencies of domestic, 
civic, and judicial life, he lived without reproach 
and died without fear. 

"With as much zeal, devotion, piety, 
He always lived as other saints do die." 



RESPONSE OF 
THE CHIEF JUSTICE. 

Gentlemen of the Bar, — The feeling of respon- 
sibility, inevitable and deep, in holding the high 
office of chief justice of this Court, is increased by 
every remembrance of him who preceded me. A 
young man, studious and sedate, then a volunteer 
soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, 
upon whom the horrors of that war seemed to have 
left such impress that he rarely indulged in rem- 
iniscences of the campaigns in which he took part; 

40 



ALBERT MASON 



a town officer, a legislator, a lawyer at the bar 
for a score of years, — such is the barest epitome of 
the life of Chief Justice Mason up to the time when 
he was appointed to the bench twenty-three years ago. 
At the bar some of you recall him. For my part, 
I have never been able to imagine him a practi- 
tioner of the law, participating in its contentions 
and strifes, perturbed by its perplexities, or har- 
assed by its anxieties. This was not because he 
was unappreciative of or forgetful of the tribula- 
tions and exactions of the attorney's calling. It 
was because there was about him, when on the bench, 
an atmosphere of poise, serenity, and patience so 
constant, unvarying, and pervasive that he seemed 
to have been inducted into the judicial office with- 
out exposure to the ills of any probationary experi- 
ence. Such, however, was not the fact. His life 
had been lived on no Olympus afar from mortals. 
He had been no recluse, I need not say, when you 
have in mind that for nearly ten years he had been 
chairman of the board of selectmen of a country 
town, and that for more than forty years, if we in- 
clude his childhood, he had been in daily contact 
with those whose lot was the shop, the mill, the farm, 
the office. The judicial calmness and presence 
that clothed him as with a garment, in part innate, 
were also in larger part acquired and amplified by 
constant, conscious, yea, prayerful effort. In the 
proprieties of his judicial conduct there was no 

41 



ALBERT MASON 



aberration. Elevated, learned, pure, upright, it 
may be said of him, as was said of Story, he never 
forgot the ermine that he v^ore. In court at times, 
v^hen weariness for a moment had the mastery, a 
remark tinged with a mild savor of possible asper- 
ity might drop from his lips. Though patient, there 
was never any surrender of the control a presiding 
magistrate should have. Though mild, he was 
firm; though gentle, there was resolution that never 
flinched. He was outspokenly intolerant of dis- 
honesty, indirection, or chicane. Rebuke, if needed, 
came quick and with no uncertainty. It was long 
withheld, if withheld it could be. In his look there 
was that which warned the transgressor, generally 
seasonably. 

In this century it may be a caprice of fancy to 
think that the environment of Plymouth — his home 
for many years — moulded the man. But even his 
handwriting recalled the manuscript page of Brad- 
ford's History, And certain it is he had in unusual 
degree and combination those traits of character 
which marked and distinguished the leaders of that 
immortal band who landed there almost three cen- 
turies ago. In him there was the unfaltering cour- 
age, the moral fearlessness, the indomitable will, 
the abiding veneration for law, the profound piety 
and faith of the Pilgrim, tempered through and 
through, however, but unweakened by gracious 
kindness. 

42 



ALBERT MASON 



For years he was a sufferer from an affliction 
which made breathing difficult. At times it seemed 
as if his unyielding determination would master 
the disorder. Sleepless nights were followed by 
wearisome days. Through it all he did his work 
unshrinkingly, heroically, and without a murmur 
of complaint. Though his physical strength might 
diminish, there was no abatement of mental vigor. 
The mind rose above the trammels of the body, 
and, in periods of extreme exhaustion, occasions 
are recalled when his charges to juries had extraor- 
dinary clearness. 

The feeling of all of his associates upon the bench 
has been so felicitously expressed by one of them, 
who knew him long and intimately, that I am im- 
pelled to read it here: "We especially remember 
and refer to him for the many lovable personal qual- 
ities of mind and heart which endeared him to us, — 
for his kindness, gentleness, uniform courtesy; his 
natural and gracious dignity, unaffected simplicity, 
sincerity, purity of thought and speech; his abso- 
lute truthfulness; his perfect freedom from envy 
or jealousy, — always finding pleasure in the good 
fortune and happiness of others; his constancy in 
his friendships; his loyalty to his convictions, yet 
so respectful and tolerant of the honest opinions of 
others. We remember his constant thoughtfulness 
for our comfort and welfare, as well as his care for 
the due performance of our duties and for his ever- 

43 



ALBERT MASON 



ready advice and assistance therein. In fine, we 
remember him for an inspiring example of a patient, 
useful, honorable, beneficent, and successful life, 
the cherished memory of which — while we grieve 
for its termination here — will remain with us as an 
inspiration to efforts for similar lives of honor and 
usefulness, and the faithful discharge of the impor- 
tant duties with which we also are intrusted." 

The memorial you have presented, together with 
a memorandum of these preceedings, will be entered 
upon the records; and the Court will now adjourn. 



44 



OCT 18 19Ch 



